Heat reclamation attachment for heating furnaces



1948- i J. A. HILKENE 5 ,852

HEAT REGLAMATION ATTACHMENT FOR HEATING FURNACES Filed July 6, 1945 IN V EN TOR.

fiatented Nov. 2, i94

HEAT REQLAMATION ATTACHMENT FOB p ns r pe FURNACES Jchn A- iil n cqm tl i N? J, Application July 1945, Serial No. tosses l lhis invention relates to a novel heating for? nace or boiler attachment operative to rcclaim heat f om flue eas s ou fl w ne fr m a furnace, or boiler fire-box and to apply the reclaimed heat to the Water compartment of the furnace or boiler, whereby to increase the efficiency of the latter and economize its consumption of fuel.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel heat reclamation attachment adapted to be externally mounted upon and around a fur nace or boiler contiguous to external Walls of the water compartment thereof; said attachment being constructed to provide'passa es adapted to cause hot flue gases, outflowing from the furnace or boiler fire-box, to flowin contact with said water compartment walls, so as to give up heat to the te f ansfer to the Water in s d mp men prior to he ultima e di charge o s d as s. to a ch mne or stack by wh ch the furnace or boiler is served,

The invention has for another object to provide. a ea reclamation attachment for the purposes stated comprising a main casing made of sheet metal interiorly subdivided to provide connected ingoing and outgoing flue gas passages, together with cooperative sheet metal mounting means for supporting the casing in operative attached relation to a furnace or boiler to be served thereby; said casing and mounting means being of novel construction adapted to render thesame self-conformable to the contours of furnaces or boilers of various sizes and shapes; and means being provided for connecting said casing and its flue gas passages intermediate and in communication with a furnace or boiler fire-box and a chimney or stack by which the furnace or boiler is served.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be un; derstood from the following detailed description of the same.

Similar characters of reference are employed in the above described views, to indicate Corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawing;

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the heat reclamatlon attachment mounted on a boiler Fig. 2 is a plan View of the heat reclamation attachment with the boiler diagrammatically illustrated and the iiue gas conduit to the attachment shown in section.

Fi 3 i a e o a i h o gh thcheat reclamation attachment taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 with the boiler only diagrammatically illus- 1 hated 2 Qla ihs 12.2

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 1-4 of Fig. 2 showing the connection of the flue gas conduit inlet to the attachment.

The novel heat reclamation means of this invention comprises an inwardly open main casing made of sheet metal and formed by a side wall Hl, end Walls 11 and top and bottom walls 12. Said top and bottom walls 22 are respectively provided with transverse slits is extending thereinto from their free longitudi-v nal edges, thus dividing the same into a series of lappable segments, whereby said walls may be readily expanded or contracted to permit desired curvature of .the sidewall ill, so that said side, top and bottom walls may be conformed to the external curvature of a furnace B, when said main casing is o-peratively applied to the latter.

The means for mounting said main casing in operative assembled relation to a furnace F comprises flexible sheet metal supporting bracket members adapted to be suitably secured to the external wall surface of the furnace F, the same having outwardly projecting means to which the top and bottomwalls'lz of said main casing may be secured and thereby supported. In a preferred form thereof, each said supporting bracket morn ber comprises a flexible sheet metal base strip IA of a length substantially corresponding to the length of the main casing. Afi'lxed to said base strip 55, preferably by foot sections I5 which are spot welded or other-wise suitably secured there to, are a pair of vertically spaced bracket flanges l5 which project outwardly and right 'angularly from said base strip 44. Each said bracket flange 16 is provided with transverse slits i'l extending thereinto from their outer free edges, thus dividing the same into a series of separable segments, whereby said bracket flanges may be readily p nded to permit curving of said base strip 54 conformable to the external surface of the furnace F to which the same is tobe Opel? et vs y af ixed,

The main casing is operatiyely assembled with sa su ort n b acket m mbers by inserting the op a d b ttom Walls 12 of the former betw e s eo ed br ket f an e iii of t e latter, and th suitably l11jngthtse parts against sop..- aration when the curvature of the assembly com or i o th na F t be ser ed thereby is at ained, Any suita le m an maybe util zed to sec re s id or an t m We ls '2 o th enga in bracket flan es as, for example; fastt' oins bo tand nut means 18, as shown.

The supporting bracket members may be secured to the wall of the furnace F in any suitable manner, but preferably by fastening screws [9, as shown, which are engaged through the base strip [4 and threaded into the furnace wall.

The end walls H of the main casing are preferably provided with foot flanges 20 to lie contiguous to the wall of the furnace F, said foot flanges being preferably secured to said wall by fastening screws 2| which are engaged therethrough and threaded into the furnace wall.

Provided in the side wall of the main casing, preferably at a point substantially midway between the ends of the latter, is an intake port 22 defined by a projecting collar 23 and an outlet port 24 defined by a projecting collar 25. The interior of the main casing is divided by a partition 26 to form an ingoing flue gas passage 21, with which said intake port 22 communicates, and an outgoing flue gas passage 28 from which said outlet port 24 leads. Said partition 26 is provided with transverse slits 29 extending thereinto from its free longitudinal edge, thus dividing the same into a series of lappable segments, whereby said partition may be expanded or contracted to conform the curvature thereof to that of the main casing as operatively assembled with the furnace F. Said partition 26 is of less length than the length of the main casing, whereby to provide, at its respective ends, ports 30 which connect in communication adjacent ends of the ingoing and outgoing flue gas passages 21 and 28.

Connected with the flue gas discharge outlet of the furnace F is a flue gas conduit 3| which extends to and is coupled by means of the collar 23 in communication with the intake port 22 of the main casing of the heat reclamation attachment. Coupled by means of the collar 25 in communication with the outlet port 24 of the main casing of the heat reclamation attachment is a smoke pipe 32 which leads to and communicates with a chimney or stack (not shown) by which the furnace F is served.

From the above description, it will be obvious that the ingoing and outgoing flue gas passages 21 and 28 of the main casing of the heat reclamation attachment are contiguous to and bounded at their inner sides by the external wall of the furnace or boiler which in turn bounds the water compartment or section of said furnace or boiler, so that hot flue gases traversing said passages make direct contact with said furnace wall. In operation therefore, hot flue gases are induced by draft to flow from the furnace fire-box through the conduit 3| into and through the ingoing flue gas passage 21, thence through the ports 30 into and through the outgoing flue gas passage 28, and thence through the smoke pipe 32 to and for final discharge through the chimney or stack by which the furnace or boiler is served.

In thus traversing said flue gas .passages 2! and 28 of the heat reclamation attachment, the hot gases flowing in contact with the contiguous external wall of the furnace or boiler F give up heat to the latter for transfer the-rethrough to the water in the water compartment or section of the furnace or boiler which is bounded by said wall. It will therefore be obvious that heat, which would otherwise be wasted if the flue gases were discharged directly from the furnace or boilerfire-box to the chimney or stack, is reclaimed and conserved by being put to use by transfer to the water in the furnace or boiler water compartment or section, thus substantially increasing the chiciency of the furnace or boiler operation, and economizing the consumption of fuel required for said operation.

a It will be understood that suitable draft damper devices (not shown), such as commonly employed as part of heating furnace or boiler equipment, may be installed either in the conduit 3| or smoke pipe 32. It will also be obvious that the heat reclamation attachment, as applied to the furnace of boiler F, may, together with the latter, be encased in heat insulation jacketing (not shown) Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A heat reclamation attachment for a heating furnace or boiler comprising an open sided sheet metal casing formed by a flexible side wall, end walls and top and bottom walls, said top and bottom walls having transverse slits extending inwardly from the free edges thereof whereby the same may expand and contract to permit curving of said free edges and curving of said side wall to conform the casing to external contours of a furnace or boiler to which the open side of said casing is operatively applied, means to hold said casing in such operative attached relation to a furnace or boiler, said holding means comprising flexible sheet metal supporting bracket members adapted to be fastened to an external Wall of the furnace or boiler, said members having outwardly projecting flange means to which top and bottom walls of the casing are secured, and said flange means also having transverse slits extending inwardly from free edges thereof to permit longitudinal expansion of said flange means and thereby curving of the bracket members conformably to the contours of said furnace or boiler, said casing having an inn-er partition adapted to divide the interior thereof into interconnecting ingoing and outgoing flue gas passages, conduit means to connect the flue gas discharge outlet of the furnace or boiler fire-box in communication with the ingoing flue gas passage of said casing, and a smoke pipe connected in communication with and leading away from the outgoing flue gas passage of said casing.

2. A heat reclamation attachment for a heat ing furnace or boiler comprising an open sided sheet metal casing formed by a flexible side wall, end walls and top and bottom walls, said top and bottom walls having transverse slits extending inwardly from the free edges thereof whereby the same may expand and contract to permit curving of said free edges and curving of said side wall to conform the casing to external contours of a furnace or boiler to which the open side of said casing is operatively applied, means to hold said casing in such operative attached elation to a furnace or boiler, said holding means comprising flexible sheet metal supporting bracket members adapted to be fastened to an external wall of the furnace or boiler, said members each having outwardly projecting vertically spaced bracket flanges to receive therebetween a casing top or bottom wall as the case may be, fastening means for holding said bracket flanges and walls thus assembled, and said bracket flanges having transverse slits extending inwardly from their free edges to permit longitudinal expansion of said flanges and thereby curving of the bracket members conforma-bly to the contour of said furnace or boiler Wall, said casing having an inner partition adapted to divide the interior thereof into interconnecting ingoing and outgoing flue gas passages, said partition also having transverse slits extending inwardly from free edge thereof 5 6 to permit curving of said free edge conformably to the curvature of said side, top and bottom walls REFERENCES CITED of the casing, conduit means to connect the flue The following references are of record in the as discharge outlet of the furnace or boiler firefi this pa t: box in communication with the ingoing flue gas 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS passage of said casing, and a smoke pipe connected in communication with and leading away Number Name Date from the outgoing flue gas passage of said casing. 1,213,212 Knaack et a1 Jan. 23, 1917 1,594,975 Newell Aug. 3, 1926 JOHN A. HILKENE. 10 2,098,489 Everhard Nov. 9, 1937 

